ATLANTA — By the time Spike Albrecht dropped in a floater in the lane midway through the first half, the little point guard had already made the presence of Michigan’s storied Fab Five an afterthought in this national title game against Louisville.

This kid, the 5-foot-11 freshman from Crown Point, Ind., who was heavily recruited by schools like Brown and Appalachian State, took the Georgia Dome by storm. Superstar point guard Trey Burke opened the game by scoring the Wolverines’ first seven points, then went to the bench to get a quick breather. Albrecht came in and one-upped the national player of the year with 17 first-half points in a game Michigan eventually lost, 82-76.

“That’s the Spike I know from high school,” Michigan freshman Glenn Robinson III said after the game. “I played against him at a rival high school. Spike was shooting those 3s and making them. That’s something I know he can do. He was in attack mode.”

That wasn’t exactly the expected story line in the most important game of the year.

Albrecht knocked down a 3-pointer, and then another. When Wally Pipp … er, Burke, came back into the game, Albrecht stayed. And then he drilled another 3-pointer, off an assist from Burke.

That floater in the lane, over Louisville’s Tim Henderson—an out of nowhere story in his own right—gave Albrecht 11 points, and Michigan an 22-17 lead.

On Saturday against Syracuse, Albrecht played four minutes and went two-for-two from beyond the 3-point arc. Scoring those six points in a Final Four game was more than the Wolverines could have rightly asked for from the player who had scored just 61 points—total—in Michigan’s first 37 games.

He told Sporting News after that game that he wasn’t fazed by the big stage. “Honestly, you’re not even thinking,” Albrecht said on Saturday. “You’re just letting it ride.”

Who knew he was just getting warmed up? That floater wasn’t the end of his unbelievable first half. Burke picked up his second foul on a questionable call, which meant Albrecht no longer was a luxury for Michigan—he was a necessity. And he was equal to the task. He drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 5:59 left, and then drove and scored inside with 3:52 left in the half to give him 17 points and Michigan a 33-21 lead.

“If there was a point guard I want coming off the bench, it’s Spike Albrecht,” Burke said. “Each and every game he’s going to give you 110 percent effort.”

That prompted a timeout from Louisville. As he ran off the court—maybe floated is a better description—his teammates went crazy. The Michigan fans in the Georgia Dome went crazy. The Fab Five probably went crazy, too, but by this point no one noticed them.

“I have so much confidence in him,” Michigan coach John Beilein said. “I don’t have to tell him. He and I must think a lot alike because he’s got so much confidence.”

Albrecht didn’t score in the second half, but he finished with a season-high 28 minutes in the game, and etched his name in Michigan postseason lore.